Advice for a smoother pedal stroke

woody0010

I've been trying to improve my pedal stroke but have been having little success, I have looked at videos on youtube but cant seam to put into practice the advice that's on offer.

Basically I find that when going full RPM during interval training I bounce on the seat. This is also becoming a problem when training on my rollers with a sufferfest dvd.

As far as I know the seat height and position are correct for mysyself but do any of you have any tips? Is the fault with the pedal stroke or is it something else

jomoj

If you're bouncing on the seat then you're probably just spinning too fast. What rpm are you doing?

declan1

woody0010 wrote:

I've been trying to improve my pedal stroke but have been having little success, I have looked at videos on youtube but cant seam to put into practice the advice that's on offer.

Basically I find that when going full RPM during interval training I bounce on the seat. This is also becoming a problem when training on my rollers with a sufferfest dvd.

As far as I know the seat height and position are correct for mysyself but do any of you have any tips? Is the fault with the pedal stroke or is it something else

Your saddle may be too high. I bounce on my saddle if it's too high. Try lowering it 1-2mm and see if it helps.

Sprool

high cadence + bouncing may be just trying too hard. You have to think in circles, not force pedals down or up but r o u n d all the way and get your legs and ankles to r e l a x. It will come, its quite hard but practice, it will make your pedalling much more efficient.
I've come on in leaps and bounds since getting a set of rollers last week - they really focus you on pedalling smoothly and relaxing, and you find yourself able to go faster and keep it sustained and smooth in order to stay on.

getprg

I've been trying to improve pedal stroke too. You don't say what your maximum is but FWIW these drills have helped me (over the last 2 years)

Always keep shoulders relaxed - this makes a big difference for me - and use very (very) small gears - this helps keep the legs relaxed - I use a triple granny ring with a 25 on the rear. The point is you are trying to improve muscle memory for the pedal stroke and feel for spinning - not trying to lay down a final sprint.

Try pyramids - 1 minute at 100, 105, 110, 115,120,125,130 then a recovery for say 5 mins - see how far you get

Try longer periods say 5 mins at 100, 4 mins at 105, 3 mins at 110, 2 mins at 115 and 1 min at 120

Try a gradual but smooth increase from 100 to see how far you get before bouncing - keep a record over time.

I've managed to reach 150 and even 160 rpm (only for an instant!) before bouncing.

It works for me - but then I'm not you.

Sprool

do you have a cadence meter to monitor this?

getprg

do you have a cadence meter to monitor this?

Yes - linked to garmin but I usually only do these drills when on the turbo set at very low resistance. I occasionally try spinning really fast on the road as a bit of a distraction on a commute but the roads I ride vary too much in gradient and surface to try a structured pyramid like this.

getprg

One other thread worth visiting is this - about Mark Cavendish's required cadence in the final sprint to achieve his 40 mph +

http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-666439.html

If the gearing calculation is correct (and it looks a reasonable estimate) then he is maxing at about 120 - 125 rpm - for maybe 10 to 20 seconds.

So drills that get you to 130 rpm should be enough for anyone - although we certainly can't crank his power output at that cadence - well I certainly can't.

Guanajuato

During the build up to the road race season, Cav was tweeting a fair bit from the training camp (in Mallorca?) and they had a cadence competition. He won with something around 240rpm. Much above 120 and I'm bouncing all over the place.

getprg

He won with something around 240rpm

........and if you're at all curious as to what 240rpm might look like - try viewing this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVbwngNoHm0 :shock:

edhornby

I did a back of a fagpacket calculation when someone was asking me about the keirin at the olympics, I reckoned that Hoy was doing 160ish RPM to win his Olympic gold

sprool is right, the secret is relaxation, and thinking in circles - imagine that you are wiping dogs1t off the bottom of your shoe, this will help to smooth the power transfer between the pedals

woody0010

Many thanks for the replies. I have seen a few videos about ankle position and the idea of wiping dog s**t off your shoes. Something tells me I just need to focus a few training sessions on this and not worry about distance and average speed.

I don't yet have a cadence computer yet but hope to in time.

Snailpace-Bob

Ive really worked hard on my pedal stroke since getting into road cycling in June. I try to maintain a good circular motion by concentrating on the wipe action and letting the down stroke take care of itself. However I still find that when Im out I let my technique drop. Lately I bought a spinner bike and Im starting to really improve my form by warming up using one leg and resting the other on the frame. It forces you to concentrate on the circular motion and the cycling bibles say that it develops muscle memory so that you do it naturally without thinking about it.

kayakerchris

I bought a cheap single speed and then swapped the rear wheel to a fixed gear. I have found this quite useful as I cannot stop pedalling at all! Takes some getting used to but I am finding the action smoother. Also coming down hill at any speed forces the legs to spin or come off the pedals (happened on the first few hills!). Initially i was bouncing all over the place but after 3 weeks I am now staying seated and managing to push the pedals round rather than them taking me round!

Monty Dog

I've found that if you push-through your 'bouncy' phase then it smooth out at higher revs. The trick is to relax through the pedal stroke.